A nice little Tanto

[Chriso]

Hi all,

 

I wanted to share with you what I think is a nice little Tanto that I picked up in Sydney some time back when I was attempting to sell off my collection of British Swords to make room for my real passion.

Unfortunately I don't have much information on it and I would appreciate any views positive or negative that may give me a place to start looking.

 

The tanto is 32cm including scabbard

Hasaki is 19cm

Normal tanto Kissaki

Cannot see a Hamon but may come up with a polish

Simple copper Habaki

Aikuchi Koshirae

Kashira and Fuchi are Plain blackened brass

Nice dragon Horimono on one side with two Japanese (I think) characters on the other

Tsuka is the same as most Katana (wrapped hilt, ray-skin, Menuki of cock's in gold and black)

Scabbard is simple wood and redish/brown with no attachments

Fittings are a bit loose

 

Enjoy and regards Chris

[sencho]

Can you show us the whole blade without handle and habaki?

 

Looks a little suspicious to me, not necessarily a fake, but maybe tampered with.... the pictures are not very sharp so I could be totally wrong...

 

The horimono does not look crisp or well done at all (pictures?) and the kanji on the blade looke a little 'fresh'.... not sure what the first Kanji is but the second is:

 

ä½ã€€- sumu

or

ä½ã€€- juu

 

Is the cutting edge dinged?? or is that just another low quality picture? Seems it could be originally a longer sword cut down (shinogi is present), but we would need better pictures and to be able to see the nakano too....

 

Koshirae seems OK...

 

My best guess.... longer wakazashi cut down, and someone (far from professional) has tried to glam it up with horimono and kanji... however I most probably am quite wrong!

 

Cheers

[James]

It reminds me of those small non-traditional blades that Japanese craftsmen make, such as the ones pictured below:

 

 

[Grey Doffin]

It reminds me of the small tantos from WWII, that are usually mounted in shira-saya and sometimes called Kami-Kaze dirks. If we see a picture of the nakago, and it is undersized and crudely made, with the mekugi-ana near the bottom of the nakago, then I'll be sure this is WWII vintage. Maybe just after the war and made to sell to someone in the occupation forces.

Grey

[Chriso]

I know now why I'm a soldier and not a photographer, just been back to look again at the pics, pretty average.

I've added a couple of others but still not professional by any means.

 

The edge of the blade shows signs of fairly deep rust, more on the horimono side but still on the Kanjie side as well.

 

The edges of the kanjie are raised which indicates to me as a novice that the characters have been stamped and not cut.

 

It has a well defined Shinogi, and I believe I can see, even with my old eyes a less defined Gunome Midare Hamon.

 

Cheers and many thanks for the comments Chris

[Brian]

I would like to see a pic of the nakago before I could comment more.At first glance I would aslo say WW2 era, remounted by someone who wanted something a but better than the normal dagger. Would help if hada and hamon were visible, but failing that, nakago shots will tell a lot.

Whenever I see a shinogi on a tanto, I look for more info. It was done sometimes, but far from the norm.

 

Brian

 

Edit to add: Missed the pics posted after. Hmm. hard to tell for sure. It doesn't have the typical WW2 dagger nakago, but still not up to the usual tanto standards either. The ana is quite far down the nakago too.

If I had to go with gut instinct, i would say a shortened wakizashi remounted and reshaped at some stage. Other comments?

[Grey Doffin]

Having seen the nakago I'm sticking with my earlier call: WWII or slightly later, with an artificially aged nakago.

Grey

[Chriso]

Many thanks to all who have provided comment. This is one little object that will go to the left of my collection and not the right.

 

Regards Chris